Listed Singaporean developer Hiap Hoe has received approval to build its first and flagship hotel and apartment project in Australia, in Melbourne’s Docklands.

The development in the New Quay precinct is due for completion by mid-2017. It will feature a Four Points by Sheraton hotel operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and two residential towers rising up and bending away from each other in an eye-catching design by Melbourne firm, dKO Architecture.

The twin-tower apartment complex, to be called Marina Tower, will feature the tallest building in the New Quay precinct at 43 storeys, plus a shorter 36-storey apartment block.

Hiap Hoe purchased the 3800 square metre Pearl River Road site at the western end of the precinct in August for $28.8 million.

It came with planning permits for two residential buildings featuring 425 apartments, but without a permit for a hotel component.

Hiap Hoe chief executive Teo Ho Beng said the Docklands hotel was a key component of its maiden flagship mixed-use development in Australia. Mr Ho Beng said there were “strong investment opportunities [in Melbourne] underpinned by the scarcity of and demand for quality hotel accommodation"

dKO Architecture principal
Koos De Keijzer
said the concept of Marina Tower was “two elegant towers that reach towards the water to maximise views looking towards the city".

Company Profile

The Docklands hotel is one of three hotels Hiap Hoe plans to develop in Australia.

It has signed a letter of intent with Starwood to operate a hotel under its Aloft brand at its 380 Lonsdale Street site near Emporium Melbourne.

Architects Elenberg Fraser are developing the proposal for a mixed use residential hotel project on the site, to be submitted to the City of Melbourne for approval.

A third six-storey hotel project is mooted for Hiap Hoe’s 206 Bourke Street site, which has a permit for a 142-room hotel above the fourth level of existing shops and offices.

The latest figures from researchers STR Global show Melbourne five-star hotel room revenue (revPAR) rose 8.9 per cent for the first quarter to $248 a night compared with the first three months of 2013.

Nationally, hotel returns were up 120 basis points over the same period to deliver a total annual return to investors of 8.8 per cent, according to the IPD Australian Hotel Index – the first time they have increased in almost three years.